Plan to take effect in 2011 will cover all three campuses

Ann Arbor -- Smokers at the University of Michigan already have to go outside, but beginning in 2011, they'll have to go off campus to light up, officials announced Monday.

"There's no question that direct smoke and secondhand smoke ... creates an unhealthy environment," said Robert Winfield, U-M's chief health officer and co-chairman of the Smoke-Free University Steering Committee. "This is a difficult task ... but it appears necessary in order to create the best possible environment for our students and employees and to help contain health care costs."

The plan, part of the Smoke-Free University Initiative, is expected to take effect July 1, 2011, and include all grounds and buildings on all three U-M campuses. U-M would become the largest university in Michigan to go smoke-free. Some 260 nationwide already have, including Saginaw Valley State University and Hope College, said the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation.

U-M interiors already are smoke-free, and its health system has been since 1998, Winfield said, but the initiative began developing about two years ago when students complained about smokers outside dorms.

U-M will unveil an implementation plan next year and offer free classes and products to employees who want to quit smoking and reduce co-pays for some prescription aids, officials said. Students also will get help.

"There's going to be a lot of support," said Terry Gallagher, a spokesman for U-M Dearborn.

Samir Islam, a junior at U-M, said students might support the measure, but some wonder about enforcement, other restrictions and alternative smoking sites. "There is a percentage of people who are not going to be happy. It's great for people who don't want to breathe secondhand smoke, but the overall problem is taking people's right to do something."

The announcement came weeks after state House leaders acknowledged they won't soon revive efforts to pass a workplace smoking ban in Michigan.